Prohibiting smoking in restaurants: effects on restaurant sales.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of prohibiting smoking in restaurants on total restaurant sales in Flagstaff, Arizona. DESIGN: Flagstaff restaurant and retail sales data were collected for periods approximately 3.5 years prior to enactment of a no-smoking-in-restaurants ordinance and 1.5 years after enactment of the ordinance. Data were compared with six comparison areas utilizing four methods of analyses. SETTING: The city of Flagstaff, Arizona, was the community in this study that prohibited smoking in restaurants. SUBJECTS: Flagstaff restaurant and retail sales were compared to sales in two similar Arizona cities, three counties, and the entire state of Arizona. INTERVENTION: A city ordinance that prohibited smoking in all Flagstaff, Arizona, restaurants. MEASURES: Taxable restaurant sales were collected from Flagstaff and all comparison areas. Retail sales data were also collected to determine if changes occurred in the ratio of restaurant to retail sales. RESULTS: All analyses resulted in the same conclusions: prohibiting smoking in restaurants did not affect restaurant sales. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings indicate that prohibiting smoking in Flagstaff, Arizona, restaurants has had no effect on restaurant sales.

A breast feeding education and promotion program: effects on knowledge, attitudes, and support for breast feeding.

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of a partner-support, incentive-based educational program on breast feeding knowledge, attitudes and support and to examine the relationship between feeding intentions and feeding behavior among low-income women. Women who expressed a willingness to participate in the intervention were randomly assigned to "intervention" and "usual breast feeding" (control) groups. Sixty-eight primipara women with expected due dates between May and December, 1992, volunteered to participate in the study. Of these, 34 were randomly assigned to each of the two groups. Approximately 81 percent of the women completed the study, leaving n = 29 in the control group and n = 26 in the intervention group. The intervention consisted of special incentives (prizes) for women and their partners to participate in several breast feeding education and promotion activities. Intervention group women and their partners experienced positive changes in breast feeding knowledge and attitudes. Furthermore, the intervention seemed to have influenced more women in the treatment group to breast feed despite their prenatal feeding intentions. In addition, the partners of intervention group women were perceived to be more supportive of breast feeding than control group partners. These findings suggest that incentives, such as donated prizes, can be used to attract lower socioeconomic group women and their partners to breast feeding promotion interventions. Participation in such interventions can produce positive changes in breast feeding knowledge, attitudes, and support, and can have a dramatic effect in promoting breast feeding.

Influences on breast-feeding by lower-income women: an incentive-based, partner-supported educational program.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a partner-supported, incentive-based educational program on rates and duration of breast-feeding among low-income women. DESIGN: Women who expressed a willingness to participate in the breast-feeding educational program were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an intervention group and a control group who received usual breast-feeding education. SETTING: Clinics of the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children in Flagstaff, Ariz. SUBJECTS: Sixty-eight primiparous pregnant women with expected due dates between May 1992 and December 1992 were willing to participate in the study. Of these, 34 were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 34 to the control group. Approximately 81% of the women completed the study: 29 in the control group and 26 in the intervention group. INTERVENTION: The intervention consisted of special incentives (prizes) for women and their partners to participate in a breast-feeding class for expectant couples and an educational series on childbirth. Women were also encouraged to use a breast-feeding support program in which peers serve as role models. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was infant feeding method. Data were collected from mothers in both groups at the time of discharge from the hospital and at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months postpartum. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Binomial proportional analyses of the feeding data were performed. RESULTS: Women in the intervention group reported a higher percentage of breast-feeding at all measurement times. APPLICATIONS: These findings suggest that incentives, such as donated prizes, can be used to attract primiparous women from lower socioeconomic groups, along with their partners, to participate in educational interventions designed to promote breast-feeding. Participation by couples in breast-feeding promotion activities can dramatically increase the rate and duration of breast-feeding.